All around the world the demand for both new and used machines is booming. For the latter, the Resale Fair in Karlsruhe is a market place which attracts visitors from all over the world. The organisers expect this year again around 10,000 visitors from more than 100 countries.
Around 10,000 visitors from 120 countries: That was the overwhelming result of last year’s Resale Fair in Karlsruhe. This Fair for used machines and plant has, after 13 years, a worldwide reputation which its organisers in 1995 could hardly have imagined. In that year just 2400 visitors from 60 countries came.
Since then a lot has changed in the secondhand market for machines. Whoever nowadays confuses used machines with redundant scrap metal has missed out on well over a quarter of a century. The times have become fast-moving and innovation cycles are now much shorter. This means that not only improved new machines are being continuously launched but “old” ones are discarded increasingly sooner. The result is that used machines are getting younger all the time and that the gap between new and old technologies is getting smaller and smaller.
The good condition of the machines, the quick availability and in particular price advantage are the main reasons why not only industrially developing countries but also established ones are increasingly interested in used machines. The internet platforms of the respective trade associations and the fair distribute the information about availability all over the world. However, the personal contact to the seller and the viewing of the machines take place on site. This is the advantage of a trade fair such as Resale today.
The experiment last year to start Resale just 2 days after the opening of the Hannover Fair and 5 days before the Bauma in Munich is considered by the organisers to have been a success. For this reason, the 14th Resale 2008 (23. – 25. April) will open on the third day of the Hannover Fair this year as well. In addition, it is very convenient that Interpack, the large international packing exhibition in Düsseldorf, opens one day later. “Visitors are thus able to obtain information about state-of-the-art packing machines before buying cheaper used machines at Resale.” This at any rate, is what Florian Hess, Managing Director of the organiser Hess GmbH from Weingarten/Baden, expects.
There is little doubt that this year’s fair for used machines and plant will once again attract a lot of interest from abroad. The Federal Association of German Exporters in Berlin (BDEx) has announced a very satisfactory growth in sales of used machines for the year 2007. Jens Nagel, Managing Director of the BDEx, identifies good opportunities for the exporters of used machines in Eastern Europe, in the Near East as well as in Central Asia. To quote, “there is a growing demand for used German machines and plant in these markets”.
This trend is confirmed by other associations and organisations behind Resale. Kurt Radermacher. Managing Director of the Association of Machine and Tool Wholesalers (FDM) in Bonn, talks about the increasing business being done by member companies in the used machine business. He has even pinpointed an increased domestic demand since the end of 2006. He believes that one reason for this lies in the ever-increasing delivery times for new machines. “Urgent orders in manufacturing can be delivered punctually by working with used machine tools”, he says calling upon his own experience. Hans-Jürgen Geiger, used-machine dealer from Metzingen and member of the Presiding Committee of the European Association of Machine Tool Merchants (EAMTM), claims: “The mood among our 250 members in 25 countries is excellent because business varies between good and very good”. He believes that there are good long-term prospects as long as the machines are of top quality and are accompanied by good service and by trust in the seller. “Better to have the customer back than the machine”, he quips.
The exhibitors of Resale 2008 are showing machines in 23 categories. Traditionally the largest category is that of metal-working machines, followed by plastic and rubber processing machines. For the first time this year there will be a group participation. The specialised group “Used Plastic Processing Machines” in the FDM will be exhibiting in a central place in Hall 1. “We have already done much to professionalise the market for used metal-working machines, and now, as trade association, we want to do the same for plastic processing machines,” says Managing Director Kurt Radermacher. “We are offering good used machines from reliable sellers possessing technical know-how and a lot of experience, especially for the plastics trade.”
Around one third of the Resale exhibitors also offer service. Many deals in used machines would not take place were it not for specialists for assembly and disassembly, leasing companies and forwarding agents. Moreover, expert and assessor organisations are also of extreme importance for sales of secondhand machines. “ We check the manufacturing quality in practice as well as the guaranteed characteristics of each machine”, says Klaus Klinger, technical spokesman for machine appraisal and control at Dekra Automobil GmbH. “It is important to supply a comprehensive and complete documentation for each machine, including operating instructions”, stresses the expert. “A machine without documentation is almost impossible to sell”.
Dr. Rolf Langbein Technical Journalist in Rottenburg
Fair Interpack stimulates interest in packaging machines
Teilen:
